From JOEL SHERMAN

What Gary Sheffield is doing now for the Mets is what his uncle, Dwight Gooden, did for the Yankees in 1996. In case you have forgotten, Gooden was rescued off the scrapheap by the Yanks in 1996. He then went 0-3 with an 11.48 ERA and a .351 batting average against in his initial three starts. The Yanks were contemplating releasing him. But rotation injuries, notably to Gooden’s pal, David Cone, moved the Yanks to stick with Gooden, especially because his Yankee pitching coach, Mel Stottlemyre, had been his Met pitching coach and believed in Doc. Boy did that belief pay off.

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